LDWS Roundup
by AnimeSiren
Summary: Drabbles written for the A/E last drabble writer standing challenge on LJ. Various themes and lengths. Cleaned up and edited for posting. All are Arthur/Eames.
1. Chapter 1

Eames went through the window and out the fire escape; Arthur shot his way through the bodies and went out the flat's door and to the stairwell.

Not their brightest or most coordinated moment, Eames had to admit.

Putting his hand in something sticky that he wasn't going to examine too closely he hauled himself up and out of the dumpster he had landed in. His knees were wet with a neon blue substance and _something_ was sticking to the nape of his neck.

He limped towards the mouth of the alley and stilled when suddenly gun shots sounded nearby. Eames checked himself for a weapon and swore when he came up empty. However it was Arthur, and not one of their attackers, that came sprinting around the corner.

"Jesus, I thought you broke your neck," Arthur's eyes narrowed, taking in Eames' condition. When he had jogged to a stop he had the time to sniff, and after he raised an eyebrow and took a step backwards.

"Luckily a very friendly dumpster managed to break my fall instead of my neck," Eames gestured vaguely behind him.

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose "Next time I give you the signal to go out the door _do not go out the window_."

Eames shrugged and at the same time a rather large, very angry, German man sprinted into the alley. Arthur fired two shots, missed, and then his magazine clicked empty of bullets.

When the knife wielding man was almost to them Eames scrambled to find a plan as Arthur crouched low, defensively. Eames hand came away from his shirt with a piece of garbage that had stuck to him, a banana peel.

Not having time to think his idea through he chucked the peel right into their attacker's path.

Arthur's eyebrows shot up when their attacker tripped, falling sideways and knocking himself out against the granite rubble that lined the alley.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me. If I had tried that it never would have worked."

"Likely because you've no imagination, darling."


	2. Chapter 2

There's a gunshot.

Then there's another.

The park goes from serene to chaotic quickly. People run in different directions, dogs bark, and there are screams and shouts everywhere. Pandemonium is a human habit, fear and survival instincts override carefully practiced human propriety.

There's a child standing stock still with fear not ten yards from Arthur. Her brown eyes are wide. She's wearing a dress the same color as the sky and Arthur notices the balloon tied at her wrist is cherry red. There's no parent near to claim her. No person really paying her any attention at all, really.

Breathless, Arthur turns to Eames "Civilians," he says "We have to get this out of here, now."

Eames nods, leaning heavily against the tree they're ducked behind. His hand still covers where the second shot nicked his side. This park was a last ditch attempt to shake the men that had broken up a meeting with a would be client, using guns rather than words to translate their displeasure with the two dreamsharers.

Arthur and Eames don't get the chance to move though. They get boxed in. One after another their pursuers attempt to take them. They can't move a hand past the trunk of tree or else gun shots are rained down on them.

The little girl that Arthur spied kneels in a ball on the ground, crying. Her balloon bobs in the breeze. From where he is Arthur can hear that, between rounds of gunfire, her sobs are the only sound left in the park.

It's only minutes later when Arthur can dash to her, when Eames jerks a dagger into the last of their assailants, but Arthur still understands that it's minutes too late. There are police sirens in the distance. Still, no adult is running over to claim the girl.

One bullet, from one shooter, is all it had taken to hit one little girl. Arthur can see that she's not crying any longer, and her chest is lying still.

Her balloon lays popped on the ground, in pieces. Eames puts a hand to Arthur's shoulder and nudges the man away, towards the nearest park exit.


	3. Chapter 3

Eames felt a whole slew of emotions, but he couldn't pin a single one down.

Horror, maybe, at having gone so long without realizing it. Astonishment, perhaps, at how things had turned out. Primarily, there was a burning, flushing feeling knotted in his stomach. It might be awe.

Eames looked back down at the moleskin, turned the page, and found another of the poems hastily scratched there. He begins to mumble it aloud:

"Like a torrent,

It threatens to never fade,

The looks, touches and sighs,

Nights spent memorizing lines,

Watching, breathing in sync,

It's like a torrent,

A never fading ache,

Complete need,

I want more and more still,

I want to take you all,

I want to make you mine,

I want."

When Eames finishes his lips still, but his eyes go wide and itch with emotion. This discovery was more than unexpected.

"See?" A voice asks over his left shoulder "It was never about not wanting you."

A hand ghosts over Eames' cheek, followed the curve of his jaw, and settles, cool, against his neck. Eames leans his head back to rest against the other man's chest.

"It was always about wanting you too much."

Eames lets the moleskin drop and grabs up Arthur's hand. Touching a kiss to the other man's wrist he replies "You can have me all."


End file.
